Resilient, yieldable seat



April 1, 1958 H. PAPST 2,828,801

RESILIENT, YIELDABLE SIIEAT Fil'e'd Oct. 31. 1950 w VENTOR 8y HERMANN PAPST ATTORNEY United States Patent 2,828,801 7 RESILIENT, YIELDABLE SEAT Hermann Papst, St. Georgen, Schwarzwald, Germany Application October31, 1950, Serial No. 193,220 Claims priority, application Germany October 31, 1949 1 Claim. (Cl. 1555.21)

The instant invention relates to resilient, yieldable seats, in particular for use with movable supports such as bicycles, motor cycles, tractors, etc., of which the resiliency is adapted to protect the person sitting thereon from shocks. To obtain eflicient shock absorbing action, it is important that the seat be capable of swinging in such manner vertically are parallel to each other and the original seat position while laterally undisplaced. To this end it has already been proposed to provide a resilient support for the seat and to equip the latter with guide means permitting parallel displacement of the seat.

Such parallel displacement of. the seat can be attained according to the instant invention in a considerably simpler manner by using a seat support consisting of superposed leaf springs clamped at one end to the seat and at the other end to the seat holder. This seat support composed of leaf springs simultaneously constitutes the resilient means and the guide means, and provides considerable simplification of the seating arrangement. The seat support, or the leaf springs constituting the seat support may be, if desired, so dimensioned that in the case of a unilateral load thereon a certain twisting or torsion is permitted. Thus there is the possibility of the seat taking a slanting position when unilaterally loaded and adapting itself to the load without the stability of the seat support in the direction of the seating area necessarily being impaired. The leaf spring type of seat support further has the advantage of very springy deflection so that the load on the seat and the stress imposed by shocks may vary over wide limits.

Further features of the invention will appear from the following descriptions of some illustrative embodiments of the resilient seat supporting means according to the invention taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is an elevational view of a bicycle saddle supported by the resilient means of my invention;

Figure 2 is a sectional view of a different embodiment in which the resilient means is provided with variable contact guide channels;

Figure 3 is an elevational view of a chair of which the seat is supported by the resilient means of my invention;

Figure 4 is an elevational view of a driving seat of a tractor, for example, supported by still another modified form of the resilient seat supporting means of my invention;

Figure 5 discloses in elevation a chair of which the seat is supported by still another embodiment of the resilient seat supporting means of my invention;

Figures 6 and 6a are a plan and a sectional view respectively of one form of my resilient seat supporting means adapted to be incorporated in any of the chair embodiments of Figures 1 through 5; and

Figures 7 and 7a are a plan and a sectional view respectively of another form of my resilient seat supthat the successive positions of the seat 2,828,801 Patented Apr. 1, 1958 porting means adapted similarly to be incorporated in any of the embodiments of Figures 1 through 5.

In the figures of the drawing like numerals denote like parts. All embodiments of the invention have in commom that the seat 1 is secured to the seat holder 2 by means of a seat support 3, the latter consisting of a plurality, for example four as shown in Figures 1 to 3, of leaf springs 4. The seat support 3 is fixedly clamped at its one end to the seat 1 and at its other end to the seat holder 2 so that when a load is applied to the seat, or a shock transmitted thereto, the seat will be displaced vertically to successive positions parallel to each other and to the plane of the original position. i

In Figure 1 the seat is designed as a saddle and the seat holder 2 secured to the frame 5 of a bicycle. Seat supporting means 3 comprises a stack of four flat leaf springs 4 clamped at its respective ends by screws 6 and 7 threaded into formed brackets 8 and 9 which clamp the end regions of the springs transversely to each other. The formed brackets 8 and 9 are also fitted and clamped to seat 1 and seat holder 2 respectively, in such manner that in the lengthwise direction the supporting means in Figure 1 is substantially horizontal.

The saddle arrangement shown in Figure 2 dilfers from that shown in Figure 1 in that the seat holder 12 has an upper curved surface 10, to the lower and forward region of which one end of spring supporting means 3, identical with that of Figure 1, or those of Figures 6 and 7, is rigidly attached by the formed clamp 16 and bolts 17. The other end of the supporting means 3 is rigidly attached by a formed bracket 19 and bolts 20 to the rear undersurface of seat 21. The undersurface of seat 21 is provided with a curved surface having a groove 11 extending from a front to a rear region thereof, and adapted to engage an increasing portion of the upper adjacent surface of the supporting means as the seat is deflected downwardly, thus eliminating the possibility of lateral displacement of the supporting means.

In the embodiment of Figure 3, the seat 31 forms part of a chair and carries a back-rest 32. The seat holder 33 serves as a leg for the chair and is provided with a foot 34. A seat supporting means 3, identical with that of Figures 1, 2, 6 or 7, similarly has its one end rigidly clamped to holder 33 and its other end rigidly clamped to a lower portion of the seat 31 to the rear of the holder and in the direction foot 34 extends from the holder.

The seat illustrated in Figure 4 is intended for a fixed arrangement such as on a tractor. The seat support 43 comprises three leaf springs of which the two outer ones, 44 and 45, are of spring metal while the intermediate spring 46 is of wood. The seat support 43 is arranged slantingly so that the seat 41 has approximately the height of a normal chair seat above the seat holder 42, the lower end of the supporting means 43 being rigidly clamped to the seat holder by, for example, a plurality of bolts and nuts 47 while the upper end is rigidly clamped to a rear lower portion of the seat 41 by bolts 48.

The chair shown in Figure 5 has a seat support 50 comprising two wooden springs, 51 and 52, directly secured to he frame of seat 53 and to base plate 54 serving as the seat holder. The thickness of springs 51 and 52 continuously decreases in the direction toward the midlength region of the seat support, thereby permitting of great deflection without affecting the strength of the seat support.

The reduction in cross section of the leaf springs constituting the spring supports may, however, differ from that shown in Figure 5, alternative modes being shown in Figures 6 and 6a, and 7 and 7a. The seat support .ileafisprings :4 of figures-16am 6a are cutout in"the form -of a vrhomb so that the .springs have ,but small area cross-sections at their ,midlength regions, as shown by the hatched areas in Figure 6a. The leaf springs 4" of Figures 7iand 7a are ;cut :outzatstheir-zmidlengtharegion in suchzmanner ;that the widthaof :thmsprings \decreases atowards their ;midlength region,;'. the meat; support assembly being :such ,that the Qlli Qlli PlOIiiOllS of.successive wsuperposed leaf springs :are at; opposite: sides, as made clear'particulariyr in Figurela byztheihatched lines of the cross-sectional areas :acmidlength-tm seat; support.

It may be convenient to provide :Qbetweenthe leaf springs of any gembodiment ,of .the seat: supporteofamy invention highly gfiexible intermediate layers..-made :of paper, plastics, rubber, :or, :thedike.

Whatl claim is:

In combination .with a :seat and a :seat ihO1d1',. 8. :lami- .nated spring bar. connecting tthei seat awith thea-seat holder and comprising "a plurality of leaf -springs superposed one cn the other, means clampingrthe :spring barsrigidly at its respective ends to thesseat and to 'the'holder so that fthe springs of the spring bar are pressed-against each other and are identically deformed -both when a load is applied to the seator a shock transmittedthereto withoutchange in therelative positions'ofthe-clamped regions of the spring bar, the seat having a lower surface in the form of a first longitudinal curvature adapted on depression of the seat to make contact with an increasing portion of the upper surface of the spring bar, and the holder having an upper surface in the form of a second longitudinal curvature adapted on depression of the seat to make contact with an increasing portion of the lower surface areasof the spring bar the magnitude of each increasing portion depending on the magnitude of the depression.

ReferencesCite'd in'the'file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 640,373 Fleming J an. 2, 1900 1,122,691 Cobb Dec. 29, 1914 1,998,508 Kappenberg Apr. 23, 1935 2,058,076 .,Glascodine .Oct. 20,. 19-36 20 12,537,071 "Lukins J an. 9, '1951 25971299 'Crites et a1. J ,May '20, 1-952 :FQREIGN :RATENTS 113,345 Great Briteiin Feb.21,"1'18 655,057 France Dec. 8,1928 

